Macintosh's Marauders (Project Horizons)
The Macintosh's Marauders are a platoon of soldiers who participated in Great War as part of the Equestrian military, appearing as supporting characters in Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons. Led by Sergeant Big Macintosh, the nine-pony platoon became heroes during the war. However, due to a predestined fate, the Marauders disbanded following Big Macintosh's death during the Battle of Shattered Hoof Ridge and each fell from grace as per their destined fate should they break their fellowship. Their fates are explored and discovered by Blackjack throughout the story. Overview The Macintosh's Marauders were formed in the early days of the Great War as a special operation to create a team of all three pony species to see if they could work together. The formation was a success, with the team becoming Equestria's most famous and heroic soldiers during the war. They performed missions all over the kingdom, but operated from Hoofington at Miramare Air Station, where they have lockers; the lockers being visited several times by Blackjack to collect their various weaponry. Early during their time together, the team visited a funfair where they encountered a zebra fortune teller. The zebra told them their fortune, claiming their history would be rather boring and they may all end up dying on the battlefield. The zebra then offered them the chance to alter their fate and becomes the greatest heroes in Equestria. Using a mysterious spellbook to ask the stars to change the Marauders' fate, he cast a curse, but told them that if anyone of them broke their fellowship, the traitor would die a merciful death and the others would be punished with horrific fates. When Big Macintosh ultimately made his decision to leave the team to start a family, the fellowship was broken and he died on the battlefield protecting Princess Celestia. The other eight members all suffered tragic fates following Big Macintosh's death, and the team eventually fell apart and disbanded with only Twist remaining on active duty as a soldier. By the time the Last Day happened, most of the Marauders were believed to be dead or suffered more terrible fates that led them to live on two-hundred years later. Interestingly, most of the members played a role in Cognitum's master plan to destroy Equestria or in the Office of Interministry Affairs' special projects. Blackjack would learn of the Marauders and their individual fates during her journey across Hoofington, encountering the surviving members in their post-war forms. The group consisted of nine members, and their commanding officer was one Colonel Cupcake, who formed the group and took great pride in their actions and heroics. Blackjack found Cupcake's body in his office, presumably dead from radiation poisoning. Members * Sergeant Big Macintosh - Team field commander, a humble and quiet earth pony and the older brother of Applejack and Apple Bloom. * Applesnack - A gruff, grim earth pony with a racial prejudice towards zebras. He would later go on to date Applejack and become the first Steel Ranger. * Twist - The youngest member of the team, an earth pony from Ponyville. She initially wore glasses and had a lisp, but got rid of both to become a better squad member. * Doof - Twist's friend, a large but not-too-bright earth pony who became a big guns user in battle. * Psalm - A quiet, shy, religious unicorn who becomes the team's reluctant sniper. * Jetstream - A high flying pegasus who acted as one of the two aerial fighters in the team. She had a lengthy crush on Stonewing. * Stonewing - The team's second flyer, a kind pegasus who had great admiration for Rainbow Dash. * Prince Vanity Blueblood - The team's medic and morale officer, the brother of Prince Blueblood and Goldenblood's uncle. He was also an agent of the Ministry of Morale and spied on the O.I.A. * Echo - A lonely and observant earth pony who was the team's communication officer. History Pre-War Prior to the Great War, all members of the Marauders had normal lives. Big Macintosh and Twist both lived in Ponyville and knew each other through Apple Bloom, who Twist had a long-standing crush on. When Twist gained her cutie mark, her friendship with Apple Bloom disappeared when the latter joined the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Twist still loved Apple Bloom years on, but never told her. Twist eventually moved to Hoofington where she met the dim-witted but friendly Doofus or "Doof" who was a bit of a momma's boy and gained a crush on Twist, though she didn't return it. Twist also met Psalm, a shy, reserved unicorn who became her flatmate and brief lover for a time. Twist and Doof ran a sweet shop called "Peppermint". Psalm herself had connections to Goldenblood, and was once his student at Luna's Academy for Gifted Unicorns. Stonewing and Jetstream met at a flight camp and became close friends, though Jetstream developed a crush on Stonewing. Stonewing himself fell in love with Rainbow Dash after witnessing her fly at an air show and remained oblivious to Jetstream's feelings for many years. Echo described himself as being neglected as a child, though the details are not expanded on in the story. Vanity led a comfortable pampered life alongside his pompous brother Prince Blueblood and young nephew Goldenblood, but was much more kinder and dignified than Blueblood and was very fond of Goldenblood. Applesnack's past is unknown but Big Macintosh knew his parents. Everything changed when the Massacre at Littlehorn occured. Goldenblood was the only survivor, and Psalm too, though she was not at the academy at the time of the attack. Shortly after Princess Luna's ascension to the throne, the zebras burnt Hoofington to the ground and destroyed Twist's sweet shop. Wishing to avenge the victims of Littlehorn and Hoofington, Twist signed up to join the army, accompanied by Doof, and a reluctant Psalm. At the recruitment grounds, Psalm hoped to enlist in a minor, non-combatant role with supplies and told a recruitment officer that her talent was "faith". Ironically, Psalm showed amazing skills with a sniper rifle, much to her horror and was made a soldier. Twist encouraged Psalm to take on a combat role, which she would later tell Blackjack she regretted doing. All nine members of the Marauders met during their training days, with Colonel Cupcake meeting them too and commented that they might make an effective team some day, who he would proudly support. Vanity volunteered as a soldier and medic, much to the embarrassment of Blueblood, who commented his rank of Captain did not mean he had to mingle with commoners. Shortly after forming their squad, the Marauders visited a funfair in Chapel as friends. There they met a zebra fortune teller, who told them their future would be uneventful and they would die on the battlefield within a year. The zebra offered to change their fate, and used the Black Book to use the power of the stars to accomplish it. However, he told them that if any one of the Marauders broke their fellowship, they would all be punished. The one who broke up the team would die a quick, merciful death, and everyone else would suffer terrible fates. The zebra cast the spell and vanished in a puff of smoke. The next day, the Marauders were turned into a special ops team; an experiment to see if earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi could work together as an effective fighting force. It worked. During the War The Marauders' missions during the war were briefly covered in Project Horizons, revealing they took part in battles in Stalliongrad, Hoofington, and the eventful peace talks in Shattered Hoof Ridge. The squad attended the inauguration party of the Ministry of Morale's Manehattan branch alongside Goldenblood. There, Twist unintentionally kicked off Pinkie's addiction to Mint-Als. The Marauders quickly became heroes and celebrities among Equestria's public, attending the Grand Galloping Gala as well, but still remained soldiers. During their battles, the Marauders all were going through their own emotional trials and tribulations. Applesnack became particularly racist towards zebras, and Psalm was slowly becoming more and more broken by her guilt with sniping the enemy, continuously praying to Luna with each life she took. Twist adapted to the battlefield, removing her glasses and losing her speech impediment, while Doof replaced his fat with muscle and seemed to revel in the violence. Jetstream continued her crush on Stonewing, while Vanity developed feelings for her. Big Macintosh, while observing the reconstruction of Hoofington by the Diamond Dogs from Splendid Valley, met a clumsy and nervous unicorn named "Maripony", who he eventually fell in love with. Big Macintosh and Maripony dated for a number of years, until an incident with some rowdy sailors led to Maripony being revealed as a disguised Twilight Sparkle, creating the persona to escape the stresses of her role as a Ministry Mare. Big Macintosh believed a Ministry Mare dating an ordinary pony like him would cause controversy, the two broke up. Though it is implied they may have reunited, meeting at a lake in Hoofington (later to be named Lake Macintosh) where Twilight revealed she was pregnant with his child. Big Macintosh's plans were to eventually retire from the army, and settle down quietly with "Maripony". However, many battles were still to come. Twist met the Proditor zebra tribe, forming a friendship with Shujaa. During a battle, Stonewing defended Jetstream from an army of zebras. One stabbed Stonewing in the throat with their bayonet, damaging his vocal chords and making him a mute. Stonewing survived and defended his friend until extracted by the other Marauders. The battle took place during the reconstruction of Hoofington Memorial Hospital, and Stonewing was given a bronze statue as thanks. Jetstream eventually built up the courage to confess to Stonewing minutes before a bomb was set off in Prance. Stonewing listened to her, but gently rejected her, still loyal to Rainbow Dash. Jetstream was only grateful for the bomb. The First Megaspell In the aftermath of a fierce battle, Applesnack was found by Rainbow Dash and Big Macintosh near-death and slowly dying from his fatal wounds, Macintosh said that because of Applesnack's heroics, he would possibly be promoted to sergeant, Applesnack lamented that it would be posthumous promotion, along with saying that he'd only had one regret of never getting the chance to meet Applejack, to which Big Macintosh said that now Applesnack had a reason to pull through because of that only to slowly die in his commanders' grip. Fluttershy arrived shortly before Applesnack died and had her ministries' Unicorns deploy the first Megaspell to revive Applesnack and the near-dead -along with unknowingly reviving the Zebra soldiers as well- with the entirety of the near-dead forces on both sides brought back to peak health once more, Applesnack and Big Macintosh steeled themselves to continue fighting the relentless Zebras once again. Stonewing's Fall Then, the first strike of tragedy befell upon the Marauders. The battle of Brimstone's Fall involved the Marauders and the Shadowbolts fighting zebras and their griffon mercenaries. Stonewing was blindsided by a griffin sniper and shot, tumbling from the sky. Echo called in Ministry of Peace paramedics, who rushed Stonewing away to heal him. However, due to an "error" later discovered by Echo, Stonewing was announced dead by the Ministry. In truth, Stonewing was alive and placed in intensive care. Stonewing met Dr. Trueblood, an O.I.A. scientist who was commissioned to create Project Chimera by Fluttershy herself, who was present. Project Chimera was an advanced medical project that used Flux in a plan to create biological super soldiers by fusing ponies with other creatures. Stonewing was the first, but unwilling test subject. Trueblood used Stonewing's injuries as an excuse to test out Project Chimera, with Fluttershy's permission. Stonewing was fused with a Cockatrice, transforming him into Gorgon. When he was recovering Gorgon used his new power to petrify a nurse to stone and then smashed apart her body with his tail. Trueblood placed Gorgon into a stasis pod for later use, though Stonewing's companions never learned of his true fate. Jetstream was devastated by Stonewing's "death" and became depressed. Vanity took pity on her, Jetstream asking him to ease her pain and remove the memories of her love for Stonewing, so she would only view him as a lost soldier. Vanity reluctantly agreed, keeping her extracted memories out of regret, but never told Jetstream of his own feelings towards her. While Jetstream forgot, her own memories would come back to haunt her in the coming months. The Marauders were shaken by Stonewing's end, pondering if he had broken the fellowship, though none of them ever brought it up. The Battle of Shattered Hoof Ridge Then, Big Macintosh announced his desire to retire from active service to have a family, namely with Maripony. He planned to do this after one last crucial assignment that could and would prove to be the turning point in the war: The peace talks at Shattered Hoof Ridge between zebra representatives and Princess Celestia. Big Macintosh had a key role guarding Celestia during the peace talks, with Psalm nearby on lookout and the other Marauders scattered around the area. The talks went well for a while until Luna's presence of the throne was brought up. The zebras demanded "Nightmare Moon" be removed from the throne based on their superstitious views on her. Zebra assassins suddenly emerged from underneath the tent and all hell broke loose. With communications a mess, and help a long way off, Big Macintosh fended off countless zebras while protecting Princess Celestia from being captured. Psalm was the only Marauder within reach and shot zebras, witnessing the death of her friend Cheddar, who she knew as a filly, at the hooves of a zebra. More and more zebras appeared, some able to fly. All the other Marauders battled the zebras, but none could reach Big Macintosh and Celestia. Big Macintosh continued fighting but was left heavily wounded by the fight. Psalm called for medical assistance but the other Marauders were all occupied in the battle and Vanity would not arrive for five minutes. Concluding that a dead princess was better than a captured one, Psalm decided to shoot Celestia, only for Big Macintosh to stand in her line of sight, telling her not to fire. Having faith in Psalm, Big Macintosh smiled and told her that she wouldn't shoot him. She did. Big Macintosh was shot through the heart by Psalm and died instantly. The distraught and broken Psalm turned her sights on Celestia, only for Rainbow Dash and the Shadowbolts to make a dramatic arrival and ended the conflict, preventing Psalm from turning Celestia into a martyr and instead only killed her commanding officer. Psalm broke down in tears, witnessing the arrival of her fellow Marauders and seeing Big Macintosh's corpse. Applesnack collapsed beside his leader and howled in despair, Twist took her rage out on rocks, Doof led out a obscenity-laden rant, Jetstream's mind broke, and Echo informed Vanity and others of Big Macintosh's death. The next day, Psalm left the Marauders and took up a private role as Goldenblood's bodyguard, consumed by her own sin and self-loathing. Twist only saw her once again after that at Miramare where the unicorn collected her things without a word. With Big Macintosh's death, Princess Luna (and the Ministries) turn him into a martyr and a war hero, calling for a boost in the war effort. Lake Macintosh in Hoofington was named after him, and a memorial of him was constructed in his hometown of Ponyville. As for the pregnant Twilight, she gave up her baby, magically transplanting it into her cousin Marigold, who was unaware of its origins. The baby was later born as Tarot, Blackjack's ancestor, who was originally slated for residency in Stable 90, only through an intervention by Old Hoss; Macintoshs' grandfather, would be directed into Stable 99 on The Last Day. Big Macintosh's funeral was held on the Ministry Walk in Canterlot, with pegasi creating a light fall of snow. It turned out Big Macintosh had been the one who broke the fellowship created by the zebra's spell all those years ago rather than Stonewing or Applesnack, and Big Macintosh died a quick death. The suffering of the other eight members was just beginning. Broken Fellowship Doof, being all brawn and no brains, did not understand Twist's status as a filly-fooler and continued having a crush on her despite knowing she did not return the feelings. A few weeks after Big Machintosh's death, Doof spoke with Brass who told him that Twist was just teasing him. His brain smaller than his sex drive, Doof visited Twist in her room and ended up raping his best friend until Applesnack came to her aid. Doof was imprisoned within Hightower Prison for sexually assaulting Twist, which he grew to realise was a mistake and wanted nothing more than to apologise and make amends. Vanity was the only one who visited Doof in prison, but not as a friend but rather an officer of the Ministry of Morale. At first, Doof did his time with compliance, defending weaker prisoners from the tougher ones and was placed in solitary confinement to stop him from wounding prisoners with his strength. Vanity then told Doof that Twist hated him and left him to rot in the prison. Doof went mad with rage, carving the names of mares into the walls of his cramped cells, and developed a hatred for all mares, referring to them as "Cunts". He was eventually selected to be the first test subject for the O.I.A.'s Project Steelpony. Transformed into the first cyberpony, Doof became Deus Ex Machina or Deus for short. He was used as a brutal soldier across the battlefield, using his military experience and hatred for mares to slaughter zebras and sometimes rape them. Deus' cybernetic body was not a comfortable one, as the Steelpony process was not perfected, causing him much pain and he had to take painkillers far more stronger than Med-X. Deus was put into stasis at some point by Trueblood. The rest of the Marauders had been badly effected by Big Macintosh's death. Jetstream was given the position of leadership in the team, but the loss of two of her comrades took its toll on her already fragile mind. During a particularly nasty battle, Jetstream finally snapped and told soldiers to remain in the conflict to find Big Macintosh and Stonewing, believing they were still alive. Vanity tried to piece together her mind but the damage was done, and the memories she had lost of Stonewing only made it worse. Without any option, Jetstream was sectioned into the Happyhorn Gardens institute by Vanity and Echo. Down to only four active Marauders, the squad continued to perform their duties until Applesnack was abruptly reassigned to become a guard and police officer in Zebratown. Applesnack would go on to date Applejack and become the first of the Steel Rangers. For a time, Applesnack (or "SteelHooves") had a happy, healthy relationship with Applejack and was very loyal to her. However, his loyalty also came with great hatred towards the supposedly treacherous Zecora, who was actually a double agent working for Pinkie Pie. On the day Applesnack planned to propose to Applejack, he encountered Zecora who was sneaking into Ironshod Firearms to obtain secret data. Blinded by rage, Applesnack murdered Zecora in cold blood, just as Applejack appeared, ending their relationship. Applesnack returne to Zebratown. Vanity and Echo tried to help Jetstream with no results, til the point that Vanity just gave up from exhausation and regret, and resigned from the squad and active service. He joined Goldenblood at the O.I.A. and stayed there even after his nephew was arrested and replaced by the slimy Mr. Horse. Vanity was also working for the Ministry of Morale to keep an eye on Horse's activities. He became aware of Project Redoubt, a secret project organized by the aristocrats of Equestria including Blueblood to construct an enormous Stable hidden in Hoofington to allow their way of life to continue. Vanity became involved in the project, with Goldenblood pitching in too. Vanity did remain in contact with Twist, Echo, and Applesnack. At some point he had a fling with Rarity, which he kept a secret from Blueblood, who was obsessed with marrying her. Only Twist and Echo remained now, but their unity was not to last. Twist had formed a strong bond with the Proditor tribe of zebras, particularly Shujaa, who eventually became her lover. Echo, lonely and feeling rejected, met Goldenblood who took pity on him and invited him to work at the O.I.A. as his personal assistant. Seeing all of his friends drift apart and become monsters or broken husks, and blaming himself for not doing anything about it, Echo agreed and left the Marauders. Twist was the last pony standing. The Marauders were over. Twist gained the title of "The Last Marauder" and the rank of master sergeant, still operating under Colonel Cupcake, who had been saddened by the slow destruction of his squad. Her assault by Doof had actually impregnated her, and she gave birth to Peppermint who lived at Miramare while she and the Proditors were out on missions. During one mission to meet with zebras who were considering switching to Luna's side, Twist and Shujaa were attacked by a racist mare on their own side who mortally wounded Shujaa and Twist. Wishing to save Twist, Shujaa ripped out the regenerative Phoenix Talisman from her body and implanted into Twist's body, dying as a result. Now all alone with just her child, Twist remained alone until the Last Day. Which would come all too soon. The Last Day Four days prior to the end of all things, Jetstream was visited in Happyhorn by Garnet, the O.I.A.'s mediator with the Ministry of Peace. Garnet was a member of Cognitum's inner circle and new world order. Jetstream herself was in a terrible state, with her mane prematurely greying. Knowing Jetstream's delusions and fast flying capabilities, Garnet told Jetstream that Big Macintosh and Stonewing were being held prisoner in the zebra capital Roam, showing her bogus photographs and telling her the Shadowbolts and army did not want to risk saving two ponies. Jetstream was immediately, blindly convinced, and Garnet preyed on her madness. Giving Jetstream supplies and a special talisman, actually a megaspell-empowered bomb, Garnet told Jetstream to fly to Roam and hide there for four days until the talisman was ready to activate. She lied that the talisman was a massive teleportation megaspell that would safely transport all the prisoners within ten miles to Equestria. Using a smokescreen as a cover, Jetstream took into the sky and flew to Roam. Four days later, Roam was destroyed by a megaspell, and the zebras retaliated by destroying Equestria with balefire bombs. Jetstream likely died during the destruction of Roam. Psalm remained loyal to Luna and carried out Project Partypooper on the princess' apparent orders to eliminate the heads of state in case of a coup. All of the targets on Psalm's hit list were to command EC-1011 and thus Equestria. Psalm assassinates Pinkie Pie minutes before the bomb in Manehattan exploded, and went across Equestria carrying out her mission. On her way to kill Mr. House, she encountered Garnet outside Project Redoubt's entrance and learnt Garnet was the one who issued Partypooper rather than Luna as part of the new world order. Psalm shot Garnet and left her to die, before going to Maripony to find Twilight. She encountered the Goddess, who forcefully assimilated Psalm into Unity, using her body as a dumping ground for all of the unnecessary emotions and memories of her alicorns. Psalm's personality became the composite mind for Lacunae, with Psalm's depressed mind materialising every now and again when interacting with Blackjack. Balefire bombs struck Hoofington as well. In Blueblood Manor, Vanity and Blueblood escorted aristoponies and servants to safety but discovered Redoubt had been seized by the O.I.A. for unknown purposes. An angry mob of ponies stormed the manor to get to Redoubt, but the royal brothers fended them off with their expert swordsmanship. However, Blueblood suddenly turned on Vanity and ran him through, actually aware of his brother's affair with Rarity. Wounded but alive, Vanity made his way to his room where he wrote an insulting letter of resignation to Horse, and then wrote a farewell letter to Rarity. Vanity passed away shortly after, holding a framed photo of Jetstream in his hooves. Twist was at Miramare when the bombs fell, finding Colonel Cupcake who informed her of what was going on in central Equestria and the loss of command. He relieved Twist of duty and told her to evacuate with Peppermint, suggesting she went to the Highlanders. Cupcake decided to remain at the station to sort out the messy communications, and received a farewell hug from Twist. Twist fetched Peppermint and escaped the base, eating mint-als at the time and seemed to gain her own version of the Pinkie Sense, and battled zebras. One winged zebra shot Twist, but thanks to the Phoenix Talisman, she survived her injuries. Peppermint was not so lucky and was shot through the chest. Hiding in an abandoned tank, Twist ripped out the talisman from her body and gave it to her daughter, saving her. Twist quickly dies from blood loss and the injuries she sustained to her own body, dying with a smile on her face. The events for Peppermint are unknown after that, and she woke up years later as Rampage with no memory of her past life, with Twist's soul now part of her own, trapped within the Phoenix Talisman. Applesnack, now commonly known as SteelHooves, had been with Applejack when the Last Day began and aided ponies and zebras evacuate Zebratown. After learning Cloudsdale was gone, Applejack raced off to get her family into Stable 2. This would be the last time the two saw each other. Several days later, the shield around Canterlot was destroyed by Princess Celestia and the Pink Cloud descended down from the capital, and SteelHooves was transformed into a Canterlot ghoul. As for Echo, he remained Goldenblood's assistant and learnt of the EC-1011. Fearing the power that the megaspell could give to a single pony, Goldenblood had Echo's soul attached to the program to keep an eye on it. However, it is later revealed that it was not Goldenblood but rather Cognitum who had bound Echo to EC-1101, keeping his body preserved in Hoofington's Core to ensure his co-operation. Echo took on the guise of The Dealer, aka, Smiling Jack, a skeletal character he had created from roleplaying games he enjoyed when off-duty. Colonel Cupcake was presumably killed by radiation poisoning, found dead in his office by Blackjack, who borrowed his shotgun as a weapon. By the end of the war, Big Macintosh, Vanity, and Jetstream had died. Twist technically died too, but her soul lived on within Rampage alongside Shujaa and other ponies' souls who had possessed the Phoenix Talisman. Applesnack remained a Steel Ranger and became an ally to Littlepip and Velvet Remedy two-hundred years later. The other members lived on in alternate forms - Deus (Doof), Lacunae (Psalm), Gorgon (Stonewing), and The Dealer (Echo). Category:Factions Category:Factions (Project Horizons) Category:Project Horizons